Wireless communications services are expanding rapidly into an ever-wider array of communications media. WiFi or wireless fidelity systems, for example, are now commonplace and being used in a variety of commercial and public settings, such as homes, offices, shops, malls, libraries, airports, and the like. Distributed antenna systems are commonly used to improve coverage and communication of WiFi communication systems. Distributed antenna systems typically include a plurality of spatially separated antennas. The distributed antennas systems communicate with a variety of such commercial communications systems to distribute their services to clients within range of the distributed antenna system.
One approach to deploying a distributed antenna system involves the deployment in a location of multiple radio frequency (RF) antenna coverage areas, such as multiple access points, also referred to as “antenna coverage areas.” Antenna coverage areas can have a radius in the range from a few meters up to twenty meters, as an example. Combining a number of access point devices creates an array of antenna coverage areas within the location. Because each of the antenna coverage areas covers a small area, there are typically only a few users (clients) per antenna coverage area. This allows for minimizing the amount of RF bandwidth shared among the wireless system users. It may be desirable to provide antenna coverage areas in many locations of a building or throughout a building or other facility to provide distributed antenna system access to clients within the building or facility.
These antenna systems provide efficient distribution of communications services to clients, or a set of client devices, in a desired area of a location, such as a building or an array of buildings. Within the client area, distribution of the services may be provided by an internal distribution network that is a part of the distributed antenna system. The network may include optical fibers and conventional wired cables for distributing a variety of communications services. The more widely these services are distributed, the greater the chance for a failure. The failure may be caused by a broken connection, a component failure or the failure of the service itself from the service provider.
There is a need for improvement in the reliability of the distribution systems that provide these communications services. What is needed is a better way to detect failures to communicate and to overcome the failures that may occur in large networks of users.